Boxing News and Views’ Joseph Parker vs Fury full fight review and round by round report from the WBO heavyweight title fight in Manchester.
Two of the world’s undefeated top young heavyweights collided in a close fight tonight in Manchester for the WBO heavyweight championship of the world.
Both men looked cool, calm and collected as they made their respective entrances to the ring.
Challenger Hughie Fury with quite the backing behind him in particular.
WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, cousin and former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, Tyson’s father John Fury and Hughie’s own father and respected trainer, Peter Fury.
The first round started out with plenty of energy. Champion Parker on the front foot. Challenger Fury on the back foot boxing well.
Fury continued to box well in the second, catching Parker with a right hand on the spin and picking out a nice right hand to the body from distance.
As the bout progressed Parker looked unsure of himself in round 3 and 4, almost lost as to what to do in what was front of him.
Fury’s movement was proving the difference at this point. Parker at times was wildly swinging and finding thin air for his trouble.
A cut at the end of round 4 appeared on Fury from an accidental clash of heads.
Some blood flowed over the eye of the challenger as a result in round 5, giving confidence to Parker apparently who had his best round of the fight thus far.
Fury came back to himself a bit in the sixth in what proved to be an entertaining round. Fury’s right uppercut had solid success but Parker dug in and showed plenty of resolve near the end of the round.
Parker continued to plough forward in round 7 but Fury’s distance control, movement and work behind the jab was a joy to watch at times from a boxing purist’s perspective.
Parker’s spirit seems to be waning in the 8th round a bit in a scrappy, uneventful round in truth. Some of the rounds were proving fairly close, tough to score from a neutral perspective.
Parker showed more urgency in his work in round 9. He looked like he was starting to give a bit more thought to his work again.
The champion landed a solid right hand on Fury near the end of the round, opening up his cut suffered earlier in the bout from an accidental clash of heads.
Fury displayed excellent balance and footwork once again in round 10, although had to be weary of some heavy leather coming from Parker who looked frustrated beyond belief.
Parker came back with a decent round in the 11th, landing perhaps the more eye catching shots of the round in what was a relatively close fight by this point I thought.
Fury landed a big right hand at the start of the final round, but Parker came back with perhaps the most flush shot of the bout for the champion. Fury took it well.
Both men clearly were in peak condition for the fight with their work rate still strong in the final round.
The scorecards read out 114-114, 118-110 and 118-110 by majority decision to give Joseph Parker the win and retain his WBO heavyweight title fight.
